et non sapientior

and came accross this bit of trivia.
It is down the page a bit in the 5th comment.

Our OIC was LCDR Beam and we had four RF-8G aircraft. I recall one of our pilots was a Lt. Tom Scott and upon returning from a mission, he hit the “round down” while attempting to catch a wire on the flight deck. It severed the landing gear and the plane slid across the angle deck and over the side into the ocean. Lt. Scott ejected safely and was picked up by helicopter. This particular RF-8G had a small gold plaque near the canopy that stated “This is the F-8 that John Glenn (astronaut)set the transcontinental speed record in.” I recall guys saying that this plane was supposed to go to the Smithsonian after our cruise, but now it lies at the bottom of the Tonkin Gulf.

Shame they didn’t preserve the plane a bit earlier, as God knows they were not short of F-8s to convert to Photo-Saders. But hind-sight and all that. A neat story, if it is true, which I have not done the legwork to verify.

But it is a real shame the F-4 beat out the F8U-3 Super Crusader. A mean machine that could attain speeds near Mach 3.